Published By: Michael Joseph
Pages: 400
Released On: 11/04/2024
A small Alaskan town.
A missing boy.
A brutal murder.
A detective brought in from out of state to assist the former sherriff who investigated a similar murder twenty-five years ago.
But are they hunting a twisted psychopath – or something even more terrifying?
*****
Thanks to NetGalley and Michael Joseph for the advanced copy of this title in return for an honest review.
I am a complete and utter wuss and hate all things horror. But I love all things C.J Tudor, so this was a tough call as to whether I felt I could read it or not. But read it I did, and in less than a day too! It is just so addictive that it’s impossible to part with.
It wasn’t actually as scary as I thought, which for me was a good thing. It is still thrilling and gory and has everything you want from a Tudor book about vampyres (this is how it is spelt throughout the book) and whatnot, but I felt I could sleep at night which is what I was worried about.
She gives a fantastic sense of space, and location. You can feel the chill of the weather, the darkness of the sky, and the terror among the community. She makes a very fake place feel very real, which until you start adding vampyres, is a little unnerving, like this could really be a real place! I have seen some of the photos she has been posting on social media about the places that influenced the book and I feel she has really captured them perfectly.
The town she’s in is a very small one, and by setting it there, it makes the whole story feel very claustrophobic and it adds to the fear that the characters, and the readers, feel. It’s almost as if the town becomes a character of its own.
We have many characters – teenagers, parents, friends, strangers, vampyires – but I won’t go into detail about all of them as we’ll be here all week. But none are wasted, they all play their part no matter how small and they all feel very real and familiar. But let me just mention a couple.
Barbara is our main character, a Vampyre expert, detective and doctor. She’ stoic and strong, doesn’t mess with anyone, she’s curious, short and overweight and underestimated, she’s a woman in a man’s world but she stands out so well. There did seem to be this sadness around her to begin with that I was intrigued by, and by the end of the book she was so well developed that she felt like I knew her.
Then you have Nicolls who is the local police officer, who isn’t in it much for reasons I won’t go into, but whilst he is there, his scenes with Barbara are fabulous. He’s used to one way of working and she’s used to another, and somehow they have to find a middle ground otherwise they will never succeed. Alongside Nicholls you have Rita who is the local mayor. I wasn’t sure about her at first, I thought maybe she was a bit too perfect, like something was hidden up her sleeve, but whatever her journey is (I will not spoil it), she soon became one of my favourites. And then the other main character is Tucker. Again, I won’t spoil it by saying who he is or why he’s there at first, but he really grows into himself and I loved every scene he was in.
And finally, we have this voice. Every so often there’s a chapter where we read about a woman being held captive. We don’t know who she is, where she is, and why she is there, but it trickles in every now and again and adds to this chilling, thrilling feeling.
When you think of vampyres in modern books, they’re a bit watered down, more friendly, more romanticised. Whereas this book gives you that traditional, classic fear and blood and terror that vampyres always brought to stories. And I think we’ve been missing that, and I for one really enjoyed it.
There are lots of twists and turns and surprises that I never saw coming, and I’m excited to see what other people think of it.
I really want a sequel. I don’t know if it’s necessary or something she’s planned, and if it ends how it ends then that’s good enough, btu I want more. I don’t want it to end yet.
Books By Your Bedside 